NEWS: A digest of aerospace, defense and technology news from the Gulf Coast I-10 region

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Boeing S.C. set for union vote

Boeing faces its first union vote on Wednesday at its aircraft factory in North Charleston, S.C., a high-profile test for organized labor in a strongly anti-union state. Boeing is running a hardball campaign against the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), which is trying to organize about 3,000 workers at one of two plants where Boeing makes 787 Dreamliners. The other, in Washington state, has long been unionized by the IAM. Opposition is strong in South Carolina, one of 28 states that does not require workers to join a union, and has the lowest proportion of union workers, at 1.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. New York is the highest with 23.6 percent. (Source: Reuters, 02/13/17) Gulf Coast note: The Airbus A320 series plant in Mobile, Ala., is non-union.